Fixer-upper: Historic estate in Center Harbor to be born anew

CENTER HARBOR — How did Mark and Nancy Haines become the new owners of the former Tufts Estate – more recently known as the Red Hill Inn – and responsible for the property’s third rebirth from abandonment? It all started with an old boat.

Mark Haines, owner of the general contracting firm Peg & Beam, which restores grand old homes and estates, had done some work for a client who ran short of cash and offered a weathered 1959 Lyman boat as payment. Haines turned his restoration expertise onto the boat, which then connected him to the antique boat community of Lake Winnipesaukee. After cruising on Winnipesaukee – he has since upgraded to a triple-cockpit Hacker Craft – he and Nancy decided to purchase a property in the region they could use as a weekend property and eventual retirement home.

That’s a plan lots of people have followed. Usually they buy something small, low maintenance, on the water. But that’s not Haines’ style. Instead, he and Nancy made an offer on a grand old estate in need of a lot of attention. And he is prepared to provide that attention, reviving a property that has been abandoned three times, only to be returned to a state of grandeur each time.

The property, off College Road, near where Route 25-B intersects with Route 3, was built by the Tufts family, of whom James E. Tufts, born in 1835, made a fortune by inventing the American Soda Fountain. The Tufts family bought a farmhouse in Center Harbor in 1901, and purchased many more adjacent properties over the coming years. In 1904, the family built a large brick home, three floors and 8,500 square feet, designed in the Georgian Revival style.

The Tufts family once owned 800 contiguous acres in Center Harbor, including land that had frontage on Dog Cove of Squam Lake.

The Tufts family, which also founded the golfing village of Pinehurst, North Carolina, used “Keewaydin,” as they referred to the Center Harbor estate, to raise dairy cows, sheep, and to breed and train hunting dogs.

Like many others, the family lost most of their fortune during the 1929 stock market crash that triggered the Great Depression and stopped coming to Center Harbor after 1930. The property sat until 1943, when it was sold and entered a period of successive owners, each of whom had some sort of summer cottage operation and each of which sold off pieces of the acreage – the parcel is now just 15 acres.

By 1963, when the now-defunct Belknap College was starting, the property had suffered several years of abandonment. The college bought the building and named it “Founder’s Hall.” It contained classrooms, administrative offices and dorm rooms.

“This was the heart of the college,” said Haines. But the college only lasted for about a decade. In 1974, Belknap College folded, and the property, he said, “went into significant decline.”

It was reincarnated in 1983 when it was turned into the Red Hill Inn, which for 19 years operated successfully as a 110-seat restaurant and inn and, Haines noted, hosted more than 200 weddings. The inn operation ceased when a group of classical music aficionados embarked upon a campaign to create a Lakes Region version of the famed Tanglewood music venue in the Berkshires region of Massachusetts.

“The innkeepers had an offer from the NH Music Festival that they couldn’t turn down,” Haines explained. But starting such a destination venue proved to be a drawn-out challenge, and as the years went on, financiers lost interest.

“It’s been pretty much closed up for 18 years,” said Haines.

Since they bought the property in November, the Haineses have been in the demolishing process and are beginning the rebuild.

Haines believes the property would be eligible for the state’s Registry of Historic Places, though entering it onto that list would come with limitations on how much renovation he could do. For example, the building has no insulation on its exterior walls, and the 1904-era windows would make winter an uncomfortable and costly time to live there.

“We are intending to restore it, we’re thinking of restoring it back to the Tufts-era,” Haines said. Once he’s finished, the property will offer seven units that he will rent on Airbnb, three units that will be seasonal rentals and one owner’s suite for Mark and Nancy.

“We are looking at this as a way to shoehorn our way into the area,” he said.

It would have been far easier for the Haineses to buy a more conventional home or build something new, but he is far more interested in the old and challenging than the new and easy.

From an early age, he explained, he has been drawn to properties that were built at least a century ago.

“The craftsmanship, the materials, you can’t replicate that today,” he said.

He’s not the only one who feels that way. Whenever he comes to work on the property, he can count on someone stopping by to check on his progress and share a bit of history.

Those visits are welcome, as the property has such a rich history, much of which he is just beginning to learn. Those who have something to share can call 603-960-4703 or email keewaydinfarmrestoration@gmail.com. To keep up to date on the project, visit “Keewaydin Farm Restoration” on Facebook.

Or people are welcome to stop by the property in person.

“We welcome visitors, but we may not let people into the building because of safety reasons,” Haines said. “But we’re certainly happy to talk to folks.”